On Saturday, the Thiruvananthapuram police arrested a notorious man. He was accused of breaking into and robbing over 15 houses in the Neyattikara district of the Kerala capital. But what stood out about his crimes was the modus operandi, which also gave him the moniker of the ‘naked thief’ or 'nagna moshtavu' .
The accused, 27-year-old Edwin John is a native of Kanyakumari in TN. CCTV footage confirmed that he followed a rather bizarre modus operandi which included stripping down completely and wearing his underwear on his head to prevent people from recognising him.
"We took him into custody on Saturday night for questioning. On checking CCTV visuals of the crimes in the area, we realised that it was him. From the visuals, we have understood that he takes his dress off completely and keeps it somewhere in his bike before entering any house," said the senior police constable of Puzhiyoor police station, where the accused was apprehended.
On Saturday night, the Puzhiyoor police officers on night patrolling duty in Kulathoor, 3 kilometres from the station, took the accused into custody based on suspicion. They later realised that he might be the 'naked thief.'
"He was riding a Yamaha Fascino with a TN registration, which is most probably a stolen bike. The bikes keep changing as he steals one vehicle for the night, leaves it there and steals another one to escape getting caught. Most of the thefts are also reported in the night. The visuals show that he enters through the back door. The cases registered have recorded losses in cash and household items," he said.
Edwin is a law student, studying in a college in Cheruvarakonam near Kanyakumari, and reportedly lived in a lodge in the area. Police suspect that he is involved in several thefts around Neyattinkara region.
"There are around 6 cases against him in Vellarada, 3 cases here in Puzhiyoor, 1 in Parassala, 1 case in Marayamuttom and many others in Neytattinkara. There are many cases of theft registered against him in Tamil Nadu as well," police confirmed.
Edwin has been remanded in judicial custody and further investigations on the thefts are yet to take place, police confirmed.